Gone
by Minv
Summary: This starts exactly where the movie left off. Dr. Amelia Brand has buried Wolf Edmunds and Joseph Cooper is looking for her. However, not everything is as it seems. What is happening to the fertilized eggs that were originally intended to be used in Plan B?
1. Chapter 1

Dr. Amelia Brand headed back to the base, wiping away a stray tear.

"CASE?" she called out to the empty, white room.

"Yes, Dr. Brand?" the robot got up, its screens scrolling through lines of blue text.

"I'm going to sleep now for a year. Make sure the base is functioning the entire time and finish conducting the tests I've set up outside. If all goes well and no one arrives, I'm starting Plan B," she instructed, striding over to the large sleep machine. She took one last look at the setting sun outside of the window, the last ray of light falling onto Wolf's plaque in the makeshift grave she had made him.

"I will do that. Goodnight, Dr. Brand," CASE lay back down and the screens turned dark.

"Goodnight, Case," she replied softly.

_Goodbye, Wolf, _she thought sadly, laying down in the machine, letting the warm waters wash over her face. _Cooper, come for me,_ she pleaded in her mind as she fell asleep.

Amelia awoke, coughing out water. She opened her eyes, seeing Cooper's face hovering over hers.

"Cooper!" she gasped. "Cooper!" She threw her arms around him, giving him a tight hug, letting tears flow down her face.

"Hey," Cooper whispered. "It's okay. I'm here. Earth is safe. We're all good." Amelia let go of him, a puzzled look on her face.

"How did you survive the black hole? Not even light escapes from there," she frowned, tracing the angles of his face with her finger. "How are you alive?" She stepped out of the sleeping machine.

"I don't know," Cooper replied. "I went into this place and ended up in one of Saturn's bases, where Rangers had found me."

"So she did it?" Amelia smiled. "Murph saved them all."

"Yes, she did," Cooper said. "But what about you? Where is Edmund?"

"Edmund's dead," she replied flatly. "We were too late; this planet's time is only the slightest bit faster than Earth's. One day here is about one and a half on Earth, but to Wolf, he's been on this planet for about thirty years and the sleeping machine can't sustain life that long."

"I'm sorry," Cooper told her softly, hugging her gently. "Have you started Plan B? Because Plan A is working."

"I haven't. I was going to, but I have not yet," she informed him.

"Good. Have you explored this planet at all? Is it capable of sustaining life?"

"CASE was performing some experiments while I slept. I haven't had a chance to check on it yet; you just woke me up," she said. "Now let me change and take a shower. I'm soaking."

Amelia returned from her room dressed in clean clothing, her hair still slightly damp.

"CASE says that everything is in order. As you know, the air is breathable, the planet has rudimentary plant organisms, and the days, while much longer than Earth's, are of a moderate temperature and the nights are cool, but very short," Cooper looked up from a report that he was reading off of. "So, definitely capable of sustaining human life. I've sent out a message to Saturn saying that they can come."

"Without a pilot?" Amelia questioned, sitting down next to him. "How are they going to pilot the ship?"

"Very carefully," he got up. "But, I have another question. How long were you asleep?"

"I set the waking date for a year," she stood as well. "But you may have woken me earlier."

"Amelia," he began, "you've been asleep for seven years."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I hope this is better chapter than the first! As always, reviews, negative and positive, are very welcome, and they improve my writing. Please tell me if I'm getting the characters' voices and personalities right, if some scientific explanations don't make sense, or anything, really. Thanks to everyone who reviewed on chapter 1!

"Impossible," she immediately replied, confused. A slight frown appeared. "CASE would have woken me up."

"CASE has been asleep, too. He was active for a year. Then, someone turned him off."

"How? Who is this someone?" she asked warily, a spark of fear igniting inside of her. This planet was supposed to be uninhabited.

_How could I have been asleep for so long? It shouldn't have taken Cooper so long to reach me, _Amelia thought in frustration. _All this time, wasted. The bases around Saturn can't sustain life forever! _

"I don't know, but look," he handed her the documents. Amelia took them, her hands shaking slightly.

_Stop that, _she ordered herself firmly. _You aren't here to be afraid. There must a logical solution for this._

"These are all from seven years ago," Cooper told her, watching Amelia's face, a bit concerned as she stared at them in shock, reading the dates for all the data.

_The probes must be broken already. What a shame, _she thought as she scanned the data.

"Do you know why CASE was asleep?" Amelia asked Cooper, not looking up from the documents. She didn't want Cooper to see the fear in her eyes as she asked the next question that she had been dreading. "And how long did it take for you to get here?"

"I came straight here after Murphy told me to," he said without hesitation.

Looking up hesitantly, Amelia saw the sorrow flicker across his face, like a cloud momentarily covering the sun, as he spoke those words. Thinking back to how much time they had spent near the black hole, she realized with a pang of sadness that Murphy had died. She had been a brilliant young girl the last time they met, and Amelia had been fond of her. But she couldn't dwell on that now. There were more pressing matters at hand.

"How long ago did Murphy tell you to come for me?" asked Amelia icily, a rising fury that Cooper only came after Murphy told him to and that she had been left behind again, this time for seven years.

"Only a year, Amelia," Cooper insisted, trying to convince her, seeing anger appear that he hadn't ever seen before. "The trip should've taken seven months and I was on the Saturn base for only two months or so."

"Really, now? Because the documents you handed me don't prove that!" she glared at him. Only a year? That was impossible, since he was obviously here seven years later!

"I don't understand what happened anymore than you do!" Cooper's voice rose the slightest bit as he saw that Amelia didn't believe him.

"You came for me only because Murphy told you to. After seven years. You left me again!"

"Ame-" he was cut off.

The emotions, a mixture of fear of the present and the future, desperation for the human race, relief at finally seeing another human, and sorrow for everything that had happened, that had been contained, suppressed inside of her, took over, and her perfectly calm demeanor finally cracked. She slapped Cooper hard across the face.

"Amelia!" he shouted, shocked. Though the slap itself didn't ache physically, it cut him deeper than Mann's betrayal.

"Don't you 'Amelia' me!" she yelled. "How dare you leave me again. _Again_, Cooper. The black hole. And now it takes you seven years to come back, only after Murphy tells you to?" She opened her mouth to say more, but stopped, leaving Cooper in the control room as she walked away, furious at both Cooper for leaving her and at herself for losing her temper.

Cooper slammed his hand down on the sleep machine, then leaned forward, slumping down on the machine. Somehow, he was more tired than he was after flying a spaceship around a foreign planet.

Amelia sat down on her bed, knees curled up against her chest. She knew she shouldn't have let her emotions control her like that; what was happening to her? She was never that sentimental, except for when thinking about Wolf.

She still missed Wolf, but the hurt was somehow lessened by Cooper's presence. With Cooper around, it felt like a blanket of tranquility was being draped around her shoulders. Of course, with all they had been through, their journey was far from peaceful, but around him, she felt safe.

_When he came, the burden of humanity was lifted off my shoulders. That's why it feels so comforting to be around him_, she told herself, but her heart didn't quite believe it. Around Cooper, her emotions were so much stronger, fueled by something that she hadn't felt in years...

_Stop, _she reminded herself. _Stop being sentimental! Do you want others to view you as weak? _she scolded her own mind. _You're a scientist, for heaven's sake. You think about things logically. Reason before emotions. Now calm yourself. _

Taking deep breaths, she brushed the hair away from her face and sat up straighter, unfolding her legs, trying to reason out her thoughts.

_With Cooper angry at me, we can't accomplish anything. I need to...apologize, _she winced, her pride taking a stab. She rarely apologized; yes, she would acknowledge her failures, but she never admitted that she regretted them.

_After all, failure is essential to growth, but so is doing foreign things. _

Amelia stood, walking to the closed door. A hand on the doorknob, she remembered what her father told her.

_Do not go gentle into that good night. _

Lifting her chin slightly, she went to find Cooper.

After Amelia left, Cooper remained on the sleeping machine, frustrated at himself and Amelia.

_She has a point. I misspoke, but I did want to return to her! _he thought, a rising hint of passion. He sighed, the moment passing, exhaustion returning.

Minutes later, Cooper raised his head, looking out out the window at Edmund's grave.

_She said we were too late, _he remembered. _And I am too late. I left her again, unintentionally. But how could she have been asleep for so long? And why didn't I reach her in time? The trip should have taken less than a year. Did I, too, spend longer than I realized asleep? _

A pressure fell onto his chest as he thought about Amelia, alone, in a far-away galaxy, thinking that she was the last of the human race.

The questions flew around in his mind that he didn't have the answer to.

_TARS_, he realized. _TARS was awake the entire time. He might have data that I need. _

Taking another glance down the hall where he knew Amelia's room was, Cooper set out towards the spaceship where TARS still remained, awaiting further instruction.

Outside, the air was slightly humid, with a warm temperature. A cool breeze, rare in the desert-like world, floated by. Cooper welcomed the cold freshness; it was like a gust of wind blowing away the jumbled thoughts in his mind, leaving a clean, blank slate. He walked, distracted, towards the spacecraft almost robotically, not paying attention to precisely which direction he was headed in.

"TARS!" he called, walking into the spaceship, scanning the dark room for the large, black robot. He flipped on the light switch, illuminating the area with the bright, florescent lights.

"There you are," he muttered, finding the robot lying on the ground, its screens completely dark. "Wake up, TARS," he said, maneuvering across the room to it. "TARS?" he frowned as the machine didn't respond. Looking closer down at the robot, he noticed the odd, distorted air around TARS, like heat waves in the middle of summer back on Earth.

Cooper's mind flashed back to what Amelia had called "their first handshake".

_The five-dimensional beings, _he realized. _I may be the ghost, but there is still more out there, those who created the wormhole and the tesseract where I interacted with Murph. _

He rose, baffled by the fact that they were there.

"What do you want?" he questioned, staring down at the distorted air containing the beings of such immense knowledge of time and space.


	3. NOTICE

To everyone who is reading this, first and foremost, thank you so much for reading my first fanfiction, especially to everyone who reviewed, followed, or favorited!

I'm getting really busy these days because my Final Examinations are coming up, so I won't have too much time to write. Because of those frustrating exams, the next chapter will probably come out in two weeks. Sorry!

However, I will try to begin answering some questions about Amelia and her 7 year sleep and the Cooper/Amelia relationship in the next chapter, so even though I may not update for a while, I'll attempt to make the next chapter worth the wait!

Thanks everyone!

-Minv


	4. Chapter 3

AN: Now that exams are (mostly) over, I will likely be writing more! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

"Can you speak?" muttered Cooper, circling TARS. The screens lit up with blue text, one word completely capitalized.

_NO_.

"Oh, fantastic. Five-dimensional beings with a sense of humor. You understood me anyways," Cooper grumbled, kneeling once more. He waited, then said aloud, "Well, aren't you going to say more?"

_NO._

"Is that all you can say?" Cooper sighed, beginning to dislike the sarcastic beings.

_NO._

"TARS, are you actually communicating with Them?" he asked the robot, unsure if TARS was awake and communicating or if They had just taken control of the robot.

_NO._

"Alright, this is getting a bit frustrating. Look, thank you for your help getting us to this planet and all that, so let me repay the favor. What do you need?"

_B. _The letter flashed on the screen.

"B? Can you explain that?" he spoke as if he were speaking to a young child.

_NO._

"Alright. You aren't going to reveal anything more, so I might as well just wait until you are or until I figure this out," Cooper said in frustration, mind working furiously at what "B" could mean. As his focus shifted into working out the mystery of "B", They slowly disappeared like morning dew underneath the burning sun.

Amelia stepped out through the doorway and into the main control room.

"Cooper?" she called, looking around. "Cooper, we need to talk."

There was no reply still, the silence broken only by the constant humming of the machines keeping the temperature moderate and her feet on the ground.

She sighed, stepping around a white table to the center of the room. Scanning the entire room, she found no one.

"CASE?"

The black robot stirred, the screens lighting up and filling with blue text. "What is it, Dr. Brand?"

"Where is Cooper?" she asked as CASE stood.

"You woke me up just to ask that?" the robot replied. It's voice was the same unruffled tone, but Amelia could have sworn that she detected a trace of grumpiness.

"Answer the question, CASE," she told it, in no mood for humor.

"Outside."

"Thank you." Amelia walked towards the door, opening it to let in the bright, golden sunshine. Striding briskly across the rocky terrain, she made her way around Wolf's makeshift grave. She paused the slightest bit, looking down at the plaque she had cut off of the hyper-sleep machine.

_I wish you were here_. The familiar thought passed through her mind, as it always did when she passed by Wolf's final resting place. However, the words didn't quite seem true anymore and she knew, though she refused to accept it for what it would mean, that she was lying to herself.

Tired of trying to untangle her complex set of emotions, she banished the thought from her mind, choosing instead to move along.

As she approached Cooper's ship, she saw the door had been slightly left open. Peering through the crack, she saw his kneeling form next to TARS, the bright lights casting an array of shadows on his face.

Amelia opened the door and stepped into the control room, gauging Cooper's reaction.

He didn't move from his position, not even to acknowledge her presence, but as she entered, Cooper's attention diverted from the puzzle of "B" to her.

She walked to his side, watching him carefully, like a hawk warily circling another.

Cooper didn't move, but she took a deep breath and began to speak, knowing that he could still hear her, even if he would pretend that she wasn't there.

"Look, Cooper, I really am..." she hesitated, "sorry. I overreacted and I know I shouldn't have slapped you like that. I don't believe you would have just abandoned me," though as she said those words, she tensed, worried that she was assuming the wrong thing about him, "so there likely is a reason for what you did. And because I didn't think through that, I apologize for my rash actions."

Cooper didn't say a word, his head bowed down, still as a statue.

She couldn't think of anything else to say, so she just stood there, staring into space and hoping for a response. In the silence, it felt almost as if she could hear the seconds tick by.

After what seemed like eternity, she decided that Cooper was just not going to answer. She glanced at his still form and sighed quietly, despairing about what she could do to amend the rift between them that she had caused.

Silently, she walked to the door and opened it, about to leave Cooper alone so that he could find her if he ever wanted to.

"Thankfully, you don't hit hard," Cooper's voice rang in the silence, slightly husky as if it had been unused for a while.

Amelia turned, her heart lifting with hope at Cooper's statement. She found him watching her, face unreadable. Unsure of what to do, she replied truthfully, "Well, that wasn't intentional."

Cooper's lips faintly tugged upwards. "You take our 90% honesty policy quite seriously."

Amelia laughed a little in relief that Cooper didn't seem to completely detest her yet. "We agreed, remember?"

"Yes, we did. So, I can tell you that I really don't know why you were asleep for seven years," Cooper stood, stretching his legs, which were uncomfortable from being in a kneeling position for so long.

"I know, which is why I ask to forgive me for what I did to you, because it was wrong." Amelia cast her eyes downwards, not wanting to meet Cooper's intense gaze.

Cooper didn't immediately reply; instead, he walked to where she stood. Lifting her chin, he told her, "I understand. don't know why you were left for so long, but you should never have had to be alone for so long. Look at what loneliness did to Dr. Mann, and he was the best of us. No matter our accomplishments or intellectual prowess, we are only human with strong emotions. You felt hurt and betrayed and that's okay, because that's who we are. When you love someone, you learn to accept them as who they are and forgive their mistakes. And this is me forgiving you."

Amelia's heartbeat sped up as she lifted her head, seeing how close Cooper was to her. She hadn't felt this way in a long time, since Wolf.

_Shut up, _she fiercely scolded herself. _He isn't Wolf, so stop comparing them to each other!_

As he spoke, his voice lowered to a whisper. Cooper watched as Amelia's pupils dilated slightly and impulsively, he leaned forward and quickly kissed her, light as a butterfly landing gently on a flower.

Afraid that he had overstepped his boundaries, Cooper quickly turned away as Amelia remained there, standing frozen.

She stared after him in shock, both delighted and apprehensive. Watching his slowly retreating form, Amelia made a quick decision, running after him.

Catching up to him, she spun him around and pressed her lips to his.

Cooper was initially surprised, having believed that Amelia didn't reciprocate his feelings, but as she kissed him, he wrapped wrapped his arms around her slight body, so delicate and frail beneath his arms. His heart soared as his love grew, replacing a wound that had been there ever since his late wife, Erin, had died.

She reached up for his face, feeling the curves of his sharp cheekbones and the warmth of his body pressed against hers.

They remained that way, not noticing as TARS awoke and stepped out of the ship, seeing them, then quickly ducked back into the ship.

Gasping for breath, she leaned her forehead against his, her pulse racing. It was like her first kiss all over again, the delight, the hesitation, but also the passion and newfound love.

"The slap was unacceptable, though," Cooper spoke, voice husky.

Amelia laughed openly, feeling as if the cage that she had placed around her heart after Wolf's departure was finally open. The smile rose naturally to her lips, not forced or faked anymore. Cooper chuckled as well, their voices blending and echoing through the otherwise silent planet.

"With all this laughter," she said, as the laughter died down, "I think you need to check CASE's humor settings. He's beginning to take after you."

"Well, the first time we met, you were controlling the robots, so I think you're better qualified for the job," Cooper replied teasingly.

"Biologist, not mechanic," Amelia reminded him.

"Pilot, not mechanic," Cooper retorted.

Amelia grinned, "Alright, I'm accepting that you're lazy."

"And the same could be said for you."

"Glad to know you're so willing to accept that side of me."

They parted as the conversation slowly trickled to a stop, letting a companionable silence fill the air instead. Cooper's mind replayed the past afternoon over in his mind, as if trying to tell him that he forgot something. As he relived the kiss, the answer came to him. Them. B.

"Come on," he said, placing an arm around her back. "Let's go back. There's something I forgot to mention."


End file.
